Green Desert - Chapter 2.4.4 - Pí‘oro

The foreign kid told the police, “That is the correct address.” His gaze bounced between me and Sıpa‘ı, the dog. “For Zhíno?” he whined.

“Yes, for Zhíno.” I slapped my thigh twice. “Sıpa‘ı, come here.” To Bhanar, “To heal him.”

The dark-brown dog trotted over to me.

To the phone, Bhanar said, “Nothing. But. . . Curious things are happening here.”

What did he mean, curious? “Hang up the phone.” We didn’t need the sheriff snooping around. Sacrificing animals was illegal, even if the gods listened. I stepped around Sıpa‘ı and the table. “Hang up the phone, Bhanar.”

He stared at me dumbly. I pointed at the phone holder on the wall. “Hang it up.”

“Something with dogs.” He caught my eye. “And rabbits.”

I grabbed the phone, still at his ear. The kid yanked it free. “Let go!”

“Give me that!” The kid said too much already, aroused their suspicion.

“No, not you,” Bhanar said to the phone as he twisted away from me. “It is. . .”

My hand was on the old semiautomatic. The kid saw it.

“I must go.” And he hung up the phone, slamming it onto the holder. His hands shook.

“Just calm down, son. Everything will be all right.” But with the police coming, I knew that was a lie.